Yemen - Secondary Education

Secondary education is a 3-year program that typically runs from ages 15 to 17 and is similar to upper secondary or senior high school in many countries. Secondary school allows students to develop specializations in preparation for particular careers or work that requires a comparatively advanced education. The main streams include a general academic one for students wishing to go to into higher education, covering both social and natural sciences, as well as specializations in vocational areas and in preparation for teacher training.

Secondary school enrollments increased dramatically during the 1990s, from 212,129 in 1993-1994 to 354,288 in 1996-1997 (the most recent years for which statistics are available). This latter figure included 286,405 students in general education, 52,349 in vocational training, and 15,534 in teacher training.

Completion rates at the secondary level are quite high, as a result of the large number of students who do not continue to this level and the emphasis at secondary school of preparing students for particular careers and/or for higher education. The completion rate is estimated at over 90 percent. As with other levels, females are under represented at secondary level, accounting for 71,309 students or 20 percent of total enrollments in 1996-1997 and 21 percent of enrollments in the general education stream.

A failing of secondary education in the past has been an over-emphasis on general, theoretical study in preparation for university at the expense of vocational and applied study. In the late 1990s, the Ministry of Labor and Vocational Training introduced a policy to increase the emphasis placed on vocational and technical secondary education. It is too early to determine the success of this strategy, although in the past these areas of study have not been very popular with students.